


Three years

by interstred



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, F/M, Headcanon, don't cry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:34:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25861390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/interstred/pseuds/interstred
Summary: What if.. they ran away? Together.(Timeline: after Infinity War, include Endgame)
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Natasha Romanov
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	Three years

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work in English, I'll be happy to comments. 
> 
> You can read this in Russian in my Twitter https://twitter.com/interstred/status/1293536611054039040?s=19

When everything around began to turn to dust, they realized that everything was gone. They failed. And even the reprisal against Thanos didn't change anything.

They have failed and this can't be fixed. 

It took them a long time to realize everything and understand that life won't be the same. And how will it be when their loved ones are gone?

Each of them tried to survive it themselves. Tony and Pepper left without leaving any contacts. Clint disappeared, Thor went to Scandinavia.

Bruce locked himself in the laboratory, but Nat and Steve stayed and tried to restore at least a little what they had. Thanos is defeated, but he isn't the only threat to the world.

A week after all the events, one evening Nat was sitting at the headquarters, once again comprehending what had happened and thinking where they did wrong, why they couldn' cope, scrolling these thoughts in her head for the thousandth time.

That's when Bruce arrived at headquarters.

He came at that moment when Nat was rapidly sinking into the melancholy that had been her lately companion. 

During this week, Bruce realized that what had happened couldn't be fixed. They need to live on. And somewhere in the depths of his soul he felt joy because Nat is alive.

For a long time he tried to accept these conflicting feelings: relief and joy, pain, longing, anger and self-loathing, the situation was complicated by an internal conflict with Hulk.

Gradually he noticed that thoughts of Nat were both calming and agitating to his senses.

And he made up his mind.

\- Why are you here, Bruce? - Nat asked. She sat at the table and her legs thrown over it.

\- I .. you and I have lost many: friends, relatives. We failed. We didn't do what we saw as the purpose of our life - we were unable to protect the world. But at that moment, when everything around went to dust, I could only think about how to see you again.

Nat stood up slowly, walked over to him and stood beside him, looking into his face, tears streaming down her cheeks.

\- I don't know what will happen tomorrow or in an hour, - said Bruce, - maybe we will live to be a hundred years old, or maybe we will die in a week. The only thing I know is that you are very important for me.

\- I'm not the best choice, - he continued, - I have a lot of problems, I have a second personality with a difficult character, I can accidentally destroy the house if I get a little angry and I spend a lot of time in the laboratory .. But if you still want to run away, I want to do it is with you.

Natasha came close and laid her head on his chest, Bruce's shirt immediately became wet. He put his arms around her waist. She raised her head, he bowed his and their foreheads touched.  
She closed her eyes.

\- Will we build a new world on the ruins of the old one? - she asked quietly.  
\- Together.

Leaving Steve in charge, they fled. Their refuge was a small house in a small town, where few knew them by sight.

They lived there for several years. They tried to live like ordinary people. Bruce got a job at a local school as a teacher, Nat found a job as a coach. 

Bruce set up a lab in the basement, next to a gym for nat. They didn't rule out the possibility of returning, although they didn't yet feel the strength to do so.

In the evenings they cooked dinner together, and after that watched old movies and danced in the dark, and the nights were filled with love.

Once a month they contacted Steve, but he could handle it without them.

Nightmares followed both of them. Not a couple of days passed without one of them waking up in horror. They reassured each other, everything returned to normal, as much as possible, but after a couple of days it was repeated.

They couldn't let go of the memories. Very often they talked about "what if ..", or they sat together in silence, continuing to think about it over and over again.

Nat never dared to cut her hair, leaving the white ends as a constant reminder.

After some time, Bruce found the strength to make contact with Hulk. That time they had to rebuild the laboratory for the first time.

But Bruce's stubbornness wasn't overwhelming, if he had already decided something. Nat didn't try to talk him out of it because she knew that Bruce was right.

She worried every time that he would get hurt or Hulk would run away. But after many attempts and several restorations of the laboratory, Bruce and Hulk found a compromise.

And then Bruce decided on experiments to merge him and Hulk, while not forgetting about Nat.

One evening Bruce and Natasha were returning home, their road passed the orphanage. Nat casually glanced at the group of children, her gaze caught on the little red head, and her steps slowed down. Bruce understood everything at a glance.

After a couple of weeks there were three of them. 

Natasha plunged into building a relationship with a little girl, whom they named Elena. Bruce spent a lot of time experimenting. In the evenings, they baked pies and watched cartoons together, and then Bruce watched as Nat put their daughter to bed, humming a lullaby softly.

"She is a great mother" - Bruce admitted.

They had to hire a nanny because they both worked. They didn't tell anyone about Elena, not even the team.

Six months later, Bruce's experiment was a success - the merger of him and Hulk was successful, although not in the way they expected.

Having lived together for three years in silence and distance, at one point they realized that they were ready to return. Being superheroes with child is very dangerous, therefore, having found reliable people with old connections, they left Elena with them. Only a very limited circle of people knew about her.

They came back.

Nat returned to headquarters and plunged into work with Steve, Bruce went to another city and often traveled on business trips around the country, checking all kinds of rumors, since Hulk was no longer dangerous.

Those three years they cherished in their memories.

That all changed when Scott Lang arrived.

Scott gave them both hope and fear.

____

Yes, they won. But the price was too high for Bruce. The only thing he has left of Nat is a memory of three years together. And Elena.

And he didn't know how to explain to Elena that her mother would no longer come to wrap her in a blanket and sing her a lullaby before bed.


End file.
